Modelling Business Systems - Ch. 7

Question 1

What method can be used to document a company’s beliefs?

Answer 1

MOST or VMOST

• Vision
• Mission
• Objectives
• Strategy
• Tatics

Question 2

What Is Soft Systems Methodology?

Answer 2

SSM was designed by Peter Checkland in the 80’s.

It is a method of systems thinking that proposes that business sistuations should be consdered as systems.

The system takes into account that in most real-life business situations problems are rarely clear-cut and there is usually plenty of room for differences of opinion about the problem, let alone where solutions may be found.

One of the key tools of SSM is the RICH PICTURE, a method to capture a conceptual view of the real world situation of concern.

Question 3

What is CATWOE?

Answer 3

• Customer
• Actor
• Transformation Process
• World View
• Owner
• Environment

Question 4

In what order should you use CATWOE?

Answer 4

1. World View
2. Transformation Process
3. Customers
4. Actors
5. Owners
6. Environment

Question 5

What are the usual differences in stakeholder views highlighted by CATWOE?

Answer 5

The main differences are usually as to where the emphasis should be placed and what the priorities are.

Question 6

What is a Business Activity Model (BAM)?

Answer 6

A conceptual model showing business activities that need to be in place, given the business perspective from which it has been developed, in order to achieve the transformation process.

Question 7

How many BAMs should you have?

Answer 7

One for each business perspective.

Question 8

What is a consensus model?

Answer 8

All BAMs overlaid to provide a consensus of perspectives.

Question 9

What is included in a BAM?

Answer 9

Activities divided by:

• Plan
• Enable
• Do
• Monitor
• Control

Logical dependencies are shown by arrows connecting activities to one another.

Question 10

How should you construct a BAM?

Answer 10

1. Identify the main doing activities (transformation activitiy in business perspective).

2. Identify enabling activities that need to be in place to provide resources for doing activities.
3. Identify planning activities that:
   
   • are needed to decide what resources need to be provided;
   • define performance targets that must be met using these resources.
   • Consider the world view to understand required resources and performance expectations.
4. Add monitoring activities to compare actual with planned performance.
5. Add control activities to respond to deviations between actual and planned performance.
6. Where environmental constraints are referred to in the business perspective, actitivities should be added to:
   
   • consider the constraints (planning activities);
   • measure performance in relation to them
     (monitoring activities)
   • react to any threat of failure to comply with them
     (control activities)
7. Add dependency arrows between activities
8. Add lightning strike control activities to indicate conrol feedback loop

Question 11

How would you arrive at a Consensus Model?

Answer 11

• Resolve any conflict between various views by examining the necessity for each activitiy in each BAM.
• The activities that are agreed by stakeholders to be necessary should then be combined into the consensus model.

Question 12

What are the three kinds of consensus?

Answer 12

• Global consensus
  Applicable to all organisations of a certain type, e.g. commercial = purchasing, sales, marketing & finance
• 100% consensus
  All participants readily agree
• Consensus through accommodation
  Participants with conflicting viewpoints agree to compromise.

Question 13

What is the best process for creating a concensus model?

Answer 13

A controlled and facilitated workshop, where views can be expressed openly and conflict resolved in a fair manner.

Workshop objective should be:

• Creation of a tentative consensus model, combining all BAMs
• Creation of a new, consensus business perspective for the area of study
• Test tentative model against new business perspective and modify accordingly
• Check consensus model to ensure it fully satisfies the new business perspective and objectives of the area of study and the change project.

Question 14

What are business events?

Answer 14

Events that happen in the real world, e.g. a customer placing an order or a supplier sending in an invoice. These events trigger the busienss system to carry out an activity, or series of activities, in order to respond to the event.

Question 15

What types of business event should be considered?

Answer 15

1. External: originating outside the boundary of the business system, e.g. customer telephones in.
2. Internal Decision Points: internal decisions made by business managers, such as award schemes.
3. Scheduled points in time: regular events that occur, e.g. start of each day produce report of overnight activity.

Question 16

What is a business rule?

Answer 16

Rules governing performance of activities:

• Constraints
  Restrict how an activitiy is performed; laws, regulations, business policies.
• Operational guidance
  Procedural rules governing how an activity should be performance, e.g. how to caluclate discounts.

Question 17

What is the difference between a Critical Success Factor (CSF) and a Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

Answer 17

• CSFs are the things the organisation must be good at in order to succeed (Planning/Enabling/Doing activities on BAM).
• KPIs are the things an organisation measures in order to find out how well it is doing
  (Monitoring activities on BAM).

Question 18

How would you validate a BAM?

Answer 18

• Explicit objectives and purpose of the system
• Connectivity (if unconnected this is a different system)
• Measures of performance
• Monitoring and control mechanisms
• Decision-making procedures (that will be influenced by the control actions)
• Boundary
• REsources
• Systems hierarchy